Dragons from Men
by actresspdx
Summary: A modern twist on a beloved story. Hiccup deals with expectations, a dangerous secret, and his changing mind and body. This will include dragons but it is my own take on them. Read the first chapter, it has some info inside, with more info in the end of each chapter. K for now, but I might change it to T for minor cursing and violence. Hiatus for 4 weeks.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, So this is my version of a HTTYD AU. It takes place in modern times, but not our world. I am keeping lots of the story the same, even most of the dialogue. But this story is how I imagine the story. Some things are very different. If anything it is like I took HTTYD and comic books and combined them. I will write from here on out in my own voice at the bottom, but I figured that I would put something here for the first chapter.**

* * *

_This, is Berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless, and a few degrees south of Freezing to death. It's located solidly on the pacific coast. My city, Berk. In a word; sturdy. And it's been here for three generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, skiing, wide open forests, and a charming view of the sunsets._

_The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have gamma irradiated monsters or aliens._

It was a dark night, the first day the world was changed. People in cars drove rapidly to get to their homes, wary of the night skies that hid the world. On every corner, by almost every door, stood watch full men and women, all armed to the teeth. The first night the world changed, and it was peaceful for a while.

Until the sky was lit in fire. As people began to rush about, the ones who were armed trained their weapons to the sky. In all the cayos, the few people who held their wits shouted at the small but lanky figure that was me, as I blatantly headed the wrong way.

_Most people would leave. Not us. We're Americans who migrated from a little island in the nation of Vikings. We have stubbornness issues._

_My name's Hiccup. Great name , I know. It's a famliy name._

"Blast you, Hiccup! You're going the wrong way!" Shouted one stranger, as I slipped between the large figures, completely intent on getting to a nondescript building. A sudden hand grabbed my coat, and about voice yelled by my ear

"What is he doing... Hiccup, what are you doing here?" Shouted the voice, "Get inside!"

_That's Stoick the Vast. He ran the city, even when most of the adults lived back in the old country. They say that when he was a baby he popped a Dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. Do I believe it? Yes I do._

I rushed in to the building that I had been heading for in the first place, dodging a short blast of fire from above.

As I headed in, I heard the reports on the dragons that were attacking.

"...a couple of Nadders, half a dozen gronkles, and Hork says he saw a nightmare over on fifth." proclaimed a warrior, as he reported to Stoick.

"Any Night furys?" Shouted Stoick, as he took a swing at a passing dragon.

"None so far."

"Your late Hiccup." Said the man behind the counter, as he lowered the crossbow that he had had leveled at my head "I thought you had been carried off" He grabbed his shiny metal hammer and attached it to his false hand.

_The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I had been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well...littler._

"Come on, Gobber. Those dragons wouldn't know what to do with all this." I flexed my thin arms, then nearly fell under the weight of the amo clips tossed at me by Gobber.

"Well, they need toothpicks." Gobber lifted the blast door covering the shop, and started grabbing the empty cartridges handed to him, trading them for fresh ammo. As he turned back, a large cloud of fire burst forth from the building across the street.

_See. Old city, lots of new houses._

As I recollected my hearing, I saw the other teens rush towards the fire with a hose and buckets.

_First went Steve, but everyone called him Snotlout. Then there was the twins, Rachel "Roughnut" and Ted "Toughnut". Fishlegs, his actual name no less, followed far behind them. But the best and most important..._

"Astrid!" Shouted Stoick "We need you all down on fifth. Reports of a Nightmare are coming in!"

I leaned out of the window to get a better look at her as she was leaving.

"Oy! Get back in here!" Gobber's hook latched onto my jacket, and dragged me back into the shop.

"Oh come on Gobber! Let me out. I need to make my mark." I cried.

"You've made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places." snorted Gobber

"Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date!"

Gobber glared "You can't swing a ax, you can't hold a dragon rifle... You can't even throw a grenaid properly!" He tossed a grenaid to a waiting fighter, who yanked the pin out and threw it at a passing dragon.

"Ah, but this will throw it for me!" I said with pride, as I patted the dangerous grenaid launcher, which naturally chose that moment to launch the test grenaid I had rigged up. It flew through the air and slammed into the unsuspecting warrior at the door. He picked it up, screamed, and threw it at a passing dragon.

"See! This is what I am talking about!" bellowed Gobber.

"Mild calibration issue." I yelped, as I hooked the loose wire back into place.

"Hiccup. If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all... this." grumbled Gobber, as he started grabbing various weapons off the shelves.

Confused, I said "But... you just pointed to all of me."

"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you" he said cheerfully, as he started lumping all of the dulled blades for chopping wings and tails.

I admit, it took a second for his meaning to dawn on me. "You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much, raw... potential dragon fighter power contained. There will be consequences!"

Gobber was unimpressed "I'll take my chances. Swords. Sharpen. Now.

_I knew that one day, I'd get out there. Because killing a dragon was everything around here. A Nadder head was sure to get me at least noticed. Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would've definitely gotten me a girlfriend. A Zippelback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status._

Outside, I heard one person run up to Stoick.

"They found the bloody sheep!" He shouted.

Stoick cursed, then ordered "Concentrate fire over the farms!"

"It's the Nightmare!" Shouted a woman, as she ripped through a barricade in her car.

_And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings went after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire._

Stoick glared at the dragon, then turned to the catapult operator. "Reload! I'll take care of this."

_But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one had ever seen. We call it the..._

A massive blast shook the whole building, as the catapult nearest to the shop was blasted to pieces.

"Damn it, it's a NIGHTFURY!"

_This thing never took food, never showed itself, and...never misses. No one had ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I was going to be the first._


	2. Chapter 2

Gobber grabbed his sharp bladed prosthetic, then called out "Man the fort, Hiccup, they need me out there!" He started out the door, then stopped and turned back to me. "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean." He bellowed at the dragons outside, and ran into the fray.

I sat for a minute, waiting for him to come back. But as soon as I knew that he was distracted, I grabbed my laser guided grenade launcher, and ran out the door.

The fight outside was cooling down, with all the Nadders already captured, and the gronkles being driven off. As I snuck past my father, I heard him shout "Mind yourselves! The devils still have some juice in them!" as he plugged the fire holes of a particularly irate Nadder.

I ran past streets full of dragons, but I did not see the Nightmare that everyone had been crazed about. My goal had been the hill in the center of the port, as it held some of the largest cannons in the whole town. The way I had seen it, they probably were the biggest targets. I thumbed the safety.

"Come on. Give me something to shoot at, give me something to shoot at." I muttered. My prayers where answered in the shrill shriek of the Nightfury. The rapid strike to the cannon in front of me came soon after. The laser on the launcher targeted the fast moving shape, and I hit the trigger.

Falling back thanks to the recoil, I threw myself back to my feet just in time to see the falling form of the dragon.

"Oh I hit it! Yes, I hit it! Did anybody see that?" I shouted, as I whipped around to look for witnesses, only to see that everyone was distracted in the main section of the battle. Well, almost everyone. I froze as a burst of heat created up behind me, to the fearless growling sound that I immediately recognized as a Nightmare.

I slowly turned around, and was treated by the sight of a fully burning, fully grown, and more importantly very angry nightmare. "Except for you." I said on reflex. Then I turned back around and ran, screaming at the top of my lungs.

As I ran past Stoick, he tracked my motion, then turned to realize that the angry Nightmare had burned through the ropes holding the Nadders down.

"DO NOT let them escape!" He shouted, then was drowned out by the sound of the Nightmare flaming at the search light that I had hid behind.

Quietly, I crept out for behind the melting light, coming face to face with the dragon. But Stoick came in, and slammed his fist into the jaw of the dragon. The dragon swirled around, and tried to burn him. He coughed, sputtered, and then whimpered as soon as he realized what the lack of fire ment.

Stoick grinned, then said "You're all out of juice" Stoick lunged, but was distracted by the flight of the captured Nadders as they escaped.

There is one thing that I forgot to mention...

The burnt and ruined light shifted and fell, revealing a slightly charred me. I looked at the irate faces surrounding me, then turned to Stoick.

"Sorry, dad." I said. The clearly unamused man in front of me silently asked for an explanation. "Okay, but I hit a Night Fury." I said.

Admittedly, it probably was the wrong thing to say. He slammed a large hand to the side of his face, then reached over and grabbed my collar.

"It's not like the last few times, Dad. I mean I really actually hit it. You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It went down, just off Raven Point. Let's get a search party out there, before it-" I attempted to say, before Stoick, my father, cut me off.

"-STOP! Just...stop. Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire platoon of soldiers and the rest of the city to feed!"

Unable to help myself, I had to say "Between you and me, the city could do with a little less feeding, don't ya think?" The surrounding adults made displeased sounds, but many of them promptly sucked in their guts that did hang out from behind their belts.

The light that had been my hiding spot suddenly lurched down the hill, crashed into a fountain, and blew up.

Stoick turned red in the face and snarled "This isn't a joke, Hiccup! Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"

At the time my reply was "I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just... kill it, you know? It's who I am, Dad."

Father sighed, put both hands to his temples, then proceeded to drag me back to Gobber. "You are many things, Hiccup. But a dragon killer is not one of them." He then passed me off to Gobber. "Get back to the house. Make sure he gets there. I have his mess to clean up."

As Gobber followed me up the street, we walked past the other teens. Tuffnut called cheerfully after me.

"Quite the performance."

Snotlout added "I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!"

I could not stop myself from replying "Thank you, thank you. I was trying!"

Walking through the destruction that I had helped create, I knew that I had defend my actions "I really did hit one."

Gobber was careful in his reply, so he chose "Sure, Hiccup."

I naturally, was already starting to gain speed in my argument "He never listens."

Gobber seemed to find that amusing. "Well, it runs in the family."

I ignored him, still in my own world. "And when he does, it's always with this... disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." I put on my fathers thick ascent that was shared by all the adults that had been born in the old country "Excuse me, waitress. I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms and extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fish bone."

Gobber cheerily replied "You're thinking about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like. It's what's inside that he can't stand."

It was my turn to glare at him. "Thank you, for summing that up."

Noticing his mistake, he said " No, Look, the point is...stop trying so hard to be something you're not."

"I just want to be one of you guys." With that, I headed inside.

I looked around the main hall of our house, with its tall ceilings and old furniture. I had not yet felt the exhaustion that would soon set in from staying up all night. I knew that I had hit the dragon, and it was just a matter of finding it to prove myself. So I ran upstairs and grabbed my jacket, knife, and note book. I took one last look around the house, and rushed out the door.

* * *

"Ugh, the gods hate me." I complained, as I walked through the undergrowth "Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire Dragon?!"

I was feeling hopeless, as the map I brought was filled with black marks in all the places that I checked. Right when I was about to turn back, I ran into something. I had been so intent of the map that I had not noticed the broken tree right in front of me.

"What the..." I looked at the tree, which was snapped at an odd angle. Looking around, I noticed a path of broken trees. I crept closer to the end of the tree worked trail, and just as I was rounding a large rock, I saw a large, black form.

"Oh wow." I whispered "I did it. I did it. This fixes everything." I Crept out of hiding, and moved to the large black dragon.

"Yes! I have brought down this mighty beast!" I shouted, as I planted my foot on its back. That was when it moved. I gave a large shout and ran back for the cover of the rock.

I grabbed my knife in one hand, and slowly approached the creature. It was tangled in the ropes that we had strung along the tree line, but at the time I could see no major damage caused by the grenade that I had launched.

I stood by its throat, and noticed its electric green eyes, staring right at me.

"I'm going to kill you, Dragon. I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a warrior." I said, then I shouted to the world "I am a Warrior!"

I raised my blade above my head, then looked at it one last time.

* * *

So, What do You think? I took most if not the dialogue from the movie. This was really fun to write, and I will be continuing for the rest of the movie, then the TV series, then the next movie, unless I end up giving up.

But now I have to issue a warning. After this chapter, I start taking my own spin on things. The nature of dragons change, the Landscape is definitely different, and some major character changes take place. If you like the way things are progressing right now, I might consider making another story following the plot of the main story line. It depends on who notices this story, and what every one thinks.

Flame on, my readers.


	3. Chapter 3

**(This is a warning! From here on out the story will be different. I know I have said this over and over again, but sometimes I have wished that other people gave more warnings on their stories. So you have been warned)**

The great beast looked at me, but what I saw was not the mindless rage that I associated to a captured animal. It was intelligent fear. The fear that my face reflected in its eyes. But also in its eyes, was pain.

Then sealed its eyes shut, it's head landing on the ground.

I then made a decision that changed the course of my life.

I cut the ropes. They snapped, one by one, and the dragon grew tense. I thought that it was too injured to attack me, that I would have enough time to run. But as the last rope snapped, the dragon lunged at me.

In that moment, the only thought in my mind was panic. Get away my body screamed. The dragon had me pressed against the rock that had previously hid me from its view. It's claws dug into my shoulder, it's teeth and eyes the main things that held my attention. Then it bent his head down, and gripped my arm in his mouth. It bit down, and I lost my grip on the world.

* * *

It was quite a few hours later that I woke up. The sun that had only just been rising when I first left the house was all the way up and, since it was only fall, I knew that I had been out for half a day. My arm was throbbing, I had a kink in my neck from sleeping on the rock, and my eyes twinged in the strangely sharp light.

I looked down at my arm, expecting to see a distinct lack of arm. What I saw was... an arm. A perfectly normal arm, aside from the pale half moon line of teeth marks lining up around my elbow on both sides.

I became aware of a odd chirping sound coming from my discarded jacket.

"Oh, for the love of Thor!" I moved, the previous events pushed to the back of my mind as I grabbed the phone and saw the five to get home alarm that I had set as a precaution.

I ran like I was being chased by a Nightmare, knowing full and well that it would be better than facing my likely to be very angry father.

In that time between my house and where I woke up, I thought about what I would say to him. I had just came face to face with the most feared and dangerous of all the dragons known to our people. I could have ended its existence, and become the greatest of all the dragon fighters on the island. Instead, I cut the ropes that held it down, and let it attack me, then fainted away like a drunken old lady at the winter festival.

I came to the realization that my situation could get very bleak, very quickly.

Rushing to the back door, I paused to put my jacket to cover up the torn sleeve of my arm. I snuck into the dark house, hoping against hope that my father was still out at work.

"Hiccup."

I jumped like a cat whose tail was stepped on. "Dad. Uh... I have to talk to you, Dad."

Instead of frowning and chewing me out, Stoick sighed "I need to speak with you too, son. I think it's time you learn fight Dragons."

At that exact moment I said "I've decided I don't want to fight Dragons."

We both shouted "what?!" in shock.

Stoick said "You go first."

I decided to get all the information first. "No, you go first."

Stoick smiled, and said with a sad smile "Alright. You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning."

I realized that I should have gone first. "Uh, 'cause I was thinking, you know we have a surplus of Dragon-fighting townsfolk, but do we have enough bread-making people, or small home repair-

He hadn't been really listening "You'll need this." He said as he handed me a double headed ax with reinforced blades.

"I don't want to fight Dragons." I blurted out as the weight of the unwelcome weapon took my arms pain threshold to a new frontier.

He laughed and said "Come on. Yes, you do."

"Rephrase. Dad, I can't kill Dragons." I protested, setting the dark weapon, which was setting my nerves off in a strange way.

"But you will kill Dragons." He assured me, looking for the cleaning cloth and sharpening stones.

"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't." I insisted, edging as far as I could from the curved blades.

Stoics, turned to me, and I halted in my tracks "It's time Hiccup. You're growing up."

I tried again. "Can you not hear me?!"

"This is serious son!" He declared, grabbing the cold weapon and thrusting it into my hands. "When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us. You talk like us. You think like us. No more of... this."

I frowned, the axe in my arms forgotten as I said in indignation "You just gestured to all of me."

"Deal?" He said, his chiefly eyebrow raised

I snarled "This conversation is feeling very one-sided."

"DEAL?!" He said, looming over me.

I sighed and said "Deal."

Stoick smiled in what could have been pride. "Good. Train hard. I'll be back. Probably."

When he closed the door to his room to pack, so he could travail off to who knows where, I whispered with gloom "And I'll be here... Maybe" letting the head of the axe rest on the ground.

* * *

**So, took me forever to write this. Family drama, school drama, some painful news, and life as a student forced me to put this on the back burner. ****It is a bit shorter than I would like it to be, but it was the spot that it needed to stop. And wow, I have six followers. I don't know if I should be happy for myself or worried for their sanity for liking my writing. What ever it is, thanks:**

Davisnacho

GrayAngel564

Loki921

Saphirabrightscale

sauara

vitimontherun


	4. Chapter 4

In the morning, I woke up to the sounds of an empty house. I had gone to sleep in my jacket, just incase my father decided to check up on me.

Slowly running through my morning routine, I looked at the new scar on my arm. It was delicate, the tooth marks little silver curves on my arm. I was so absorbed in the appearance of my arm, that I shoved the other hand into boiling hot water.

With a loud shout, I grabbed at the pained flesh of my hand. It was not serious, the pain fading away as soon as it started. I glared at the scars, blaming them for the pain.

"This is just great" I said, hands grabbing at my hair. I knew that the events that occurred would distract me from anything that I would be learning.

With a sigh, I grabbed my brown jacket from the laundry, fit my boots over my feet, and moved to get the axe that my father force-gifted me. It was less uncomfortable to hold at this point, since my arm was finished healing, as far as I could tell. But I still felt uneasy holding the weapon.

* * *

"Welcome to Dragon training!" bellowed Gobber over the tall crowd of people. He gestured for the aids to start sorting the groups in between their classes. I tailed after my group, who got the largest training room, being the most advanced group.

The complex of class rooms consisted of several levels of classes. My group had been made up of teenagers. The elementary school, middle school, and high school was all contained in the same building, because it was the best maintained and defended of all the buildings. Most of it was under ground. Even our government was there.

My class was extra small, because the other teens either chose to simply stay in regular school, or went straight to training. the kids in my class all tested into the advanced program, or were legacies. Altogether, there was only six of us.

"No turning back." I over heard Astrid say, as she gracefully flipped her axe to one shoulder, and patted at her sidearm holster at her hip.

"I hope I get some serious burns.' said Toughnut, holding tightly to a practice rifle, that fired darts instead of bullets

His sister crowed in agreement "I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back."

Astrid laughed, nudging Roughnut's arm "Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

I was still grimm from my fate, and my arm had begun to throb as soon as I saw the stadium of a class room we got to practice in.

"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it." I said in my most sarcastic tone.

Toughnut turned around, the other kids slumping when they heard my voice. "Oh great. Who let him in?"

Gobber overheard our conversation.

"Let's get started!" he declared, moving around to the side of the stadium. "The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first Dragon in front of the entire town"

Snotlout snidely stated "Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or...?"

"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" said a clueless Toughnut.

I was feeling more than a little discouraged. Stuck in a class that I did not even want to be in, full of kids who didn't want me, it was hard not to wish for something else.

"Don't worry." said a kind Gobber. He bent down, to say in my ear "You're small and you're weak. That'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead."

He wasn't helpful in the least.

Gobber walked up to the large, steel gates on the periphery of the Colosseum.

"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight. Dragons like... The Deadly Nadder.

Fishlegs spouted "Speed: eight; Armor: sixteen."

Gobber patted another door, which jolted violently "The Hideous Zippleback."

"Plus eleven stealth times two." said Fishlegs

"The Monstrous Nightmare." Gobber said, gesturing to a slowly glowing door

"Firepower: fifteen." squeaked out an over excited Fishlegs, as the other teens skooted away slowly.

Gobber glared at the others as he pointed to the largest door "The Terrible Terror..."

Fishlegs shouted "Attack: eight; Venom: twelve."

"CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" bellowed a angry Gobber

He then sighed "And... the Gronckle."

Fishlegs tilted in my direction "Jaw strength: eight." he murmured.

I was growing more aware of the fact Fishlegs had his social climbing priorities turned off, but while I was distracted, Gobber had made it to the large lever besides the Gronckle cage. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Snotlout screamed.

"Whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first!?"

Gobber smiled the same smile I had see so many times in the shop/

"I believe in learning on the job."

And he opened the gate.

* * *

**So, this one is short, but I am posting another one tomorrow or tonight. I was going to post this on the 22, in honer of my BD, but then I got distracted by a project that I forgot to do. Oh well.**

**And a big shout out to my newest followers for this story:**

Erunerus

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**And I also have my story in a community:**

Modern AU Hiccstrid Fanfics

**Yes, this is Hiccstrid**

**And, finally, I have a poll on my page. Vote for your choice.**


	5. temporary, will remove in june

This is my way of saying sorry to everyone. For the next month or so, my schedule will be full of testing, school work, and pain. I will start writing my stories again in three or more weeks. I am really ashamed of my self, but I would rather pass IB math, science class, and Junior year in general than post my story. I might still be able to continue during the rest of my school year, But it is in now way a given. But I will be returning to the story. That is in fact a promise to all of you.

I am so sorry.


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